The Hopeless Forest
by Stolen Key
Summary: Deep in the heart of Russia lives a child. Ivan has always been alone and is the last child in his town. His town has been plagued by a curse known only as the beast. He is protected day and night by the adults surrounding him, yet he only wants to visit his only friend who lives in the forest, the home of the beast. Rated T for violence later on
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Unfortunately I don't own Hetalia ;_; I just own this story.

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Deep in the heart of a Russian forest long forgotten by time lives a legend, a curse that plagues the surrounding areas and destroys all in its path. For over a hundred years the forest has been home to the beast. It prowled the darkness at night always on the hunt for new prey, unable to satisfy its ever growing hunger. The unlucky few who have ever come across it have never lived to tell the tale, the only evidence left are the bodies and the howl, a piercing grief laden howl that cut through the nights telling everyone "another falls". The forest is the last of an ancient world of magic and myth, its trees tangled in the canopy leaving the forest in an everlasting state of darkness. Many feared the forest and left its boundaries, hundreds of abandoned towns litter the outskirts and thousands of once prosperous routes of travel left to be reclaimed by the wild. Only one town remained at the edge of the trees. But it was fading, the children were disappearing and the adults were fleeing in fear of the beast. The beast that devours the night and steals their hope.

That was until fifty years ago the beast stopped, things returned to normal but the damage was done. The legend spread and most feared the area that was now called The Hopeless Forest. For a while within the last ten years life was good for the town, they had regained some of their past glory and were able to entice vendors and rich businessmen to the area thanks to an abundance of food and resources. Suddenly the beast returned. For the last two years the beast could be heard howling from the depths of the forest. Every morning a child was declared missing. Each one seemingly led from its bed and brought deep into the trees were it was never seen again. Only their footsteps remained. Each set of footsteps was accompanied by a set so grotesque that whoever followed them wiped them out so none other could witness them.

Now only one child remained. A small violet eyed, blonde boy called Ivan, being the only child left he was the towns pride and guarded like gold. He was the last remaining hope they had and they would stop at nothing to protect him. He was a bright happy child, always smiling and trying to make new friends. He would forever be trying to cheer up the people around him and find a flower to bring to the parents of lost children. That was until the fateful night his turn came.


	2. Chapter 2

Everyday Ivan would break away from his normal routine and follow a well tread path into the forest. Everyday he would follow it until he was brought upon a clearing filled with flowers of every colour and size. It was here he found the flowers to give to the people he wanted to see smile. The people who had lost their children. He missed the other children, they were always so happy and never stopped playing. For some reason he was never allowed to join in on their games, they called him creepy, so he wandered into the forest eventually stumbling upon the clearing. He was enchanted by the flowers that grew there, the clearing was surrounded by ancient willows and fallen trees covered in multi coloured moss. Light shone down between the leaves illuminating the area in an ethereal glow. He could almost feel the magic in the air and it captivated him. For the first time he felt happy and he didn't feel alone. Until the disappearances started he spent everyday in the clearing, sometimes trying to encourage the other children to join him. They never did, they said he was scary to go into the forest, they said he was cursed. That day he cried, that day a girl went missing.

The next morning he woke to shouting and crying. The girls mother broke down in the town square and was screaming for her daughter to return. Her husband was barking orders to a group of men who were dishevelled and wandering around confused, searching every gap a child could hide in. Within a matter of hours the entire town was torn apart in the search, every man woman and child was questioned. While the town panicked Ivan went to the girls house, he knew her. She was a pretty black haired girl who was very popular. She always found new games for the children to play and Ivan always tried to join and be her friend. When he got to her house he noticed a window lying open and torn cloth on the frame. Muddled footsteps riddled the snow beneath and led out of the town straight into the trees. He followed the trail for a while until more footsteps, twisted and warped footsteps appeared at the edge of the trees; it was then that the howl filled the air. The air seemed to freeze and time stopped. Townspeople appeared behind him, he later learned that someone spotted him and got others to follow. They stopped at the sound and paled. Their faces lined with fear. The beast had returned and it had already taken its first victim. Confused at the sudden reactions of the townspeople Ivan tried following the howl. The low pitched howl seemed to beg him to follow, he recognised something in it. He thought it sounded lonely and something inside him begged him to find the source. Before he could register what was happening he was pulled back to his house and locked up in his room.

It was hours before anyone visited him. After calm fell over the town his father finally let him out of the room. His father, a lumberjack, looked stern and sat the boy down at their kitchen table. The house was small, bare aside from a few essential pieces of furniture yet there were always flowers. The flowers Ivan picked everyday.

"Son, I need to tell you a story," he started and stared the boy directly in the eyes.

"Really papa?" Ivan answered hopeful of another happy fairytale that his mother told him and his sisters before they left the previous year.

"Yes, it's about the forest and how it got its name." His father cleared his throat and pulled his gaze away from the smiling child. "It all started a long time ago before the time of you grandfather, even before your great grandfather's time this entire area was the jewel of Russia. People used to come here from all across the world to sample what beauty and riches we had to share. That all changed one night when it appeared."

"When what appeared," Ivan cut in, his smile still present.

"The beast. It started off with a child going missing. Then a howl. The child was abducted by the beast in the middle of the night. The next morning they found the child's window open and footsteps in the snow leading into the forest, beside the child's footsteps were the beasts. When they discovered this a howl pierced the air, just like the howl this morning."

Ivan's smile faltered for a brief second as he processed the information. "But the howl sounded lonely..."

"No, that howl was one of death. The girl who went missing this morning was taken by the beast. The beast has returned Ivan and I need you to stay inside at night and away from the forest."

Ivan nodded, the forest was his only shelter. He wasn't sure if he could leave it.

"Good, now come with me. We need to meet with the rest of the town for a meeting." With that he led Ivan out of the house and into the town hall. It was a small building that also doubled as a house. The town, although prosperous in the sense of resources was still poor, needed all the space it could get. They were surrounded by the forest and with only one entrance they had to make the best of what space they had. The meeting was long and tension filled. Some townspeople wished to chase the beast down, others suggested abandoning the town whilst the remaining few wished to hide within their houses until the threat passed. By the end of the day a conclusion was not reached and the meeting was disbanded.

It was almost dusk and by now the people were afraid. Some glanced to the forests edge, scared to peak a glimpse of the legendary beast that had taken the girl. Others fled to their houses, bolting the door behind them. Ivan chose to walk as slowly as he could, watching everyone deal with the news around him. He noticed some crying and others angrily discussing the beast. Everyone was tense, he could see they were all terrified but most refused to admit it. It was then he felt it, he was being watched. Looking around he saw nothing, only people quickly making their way home and pointedly ignoring him. Turning he quickened his pace until a sound like a whisper stopped him, it felt familiar and comforting. Like the clearing he loved. He looked towards the forest edge and saw a pink scarf caught in a branch. Glancing around he quickly ran up to it and pulled it off the tree. Suddenly a hand grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him off the ground. Spinning around he almost shouted at his captor when he saw it was his father. His eyes wide in fear as he held his son off the ground.

"I told you not to go near the forest," he urged, his voice trembling.

"I... I found this," Ivan lifted the scarf up to show his father. His father looked at the scarf and quickly pulled the boy close to him and raced back to their house. As soon as he got in, he barricaded the doors and windows. Shutting the outside world out and then lit a fire. Once he deemed the fire good enough he pulled Ivan's bed into the main living room and set up another area for him to sleep in.

"Ivan, you're sleeping here tonight," he pointed at Ivan's bed, "I'm going to sleep here." He pointed at a cot beside Ivan's bed. "I don't want you going anywhere near the windows or door tonight until everything is safe again. Understand?"

"Yes papa," Ivan smiled and got into his bed. There were times when he knew better than to question his father, now was one of those times. His father had a bad temper that had scared away his mother and sisters, he would never admit to hating his father but he did wish that his sisters were back. Then he wouldn't be as lonely. Before they left he was happy, he always had someone to talk to and never had to worry about the other kids being mean. They liked him and his sisters, but when his sisters left him so did they.

The next morning they awoke to a howl and news that another girl went missing.

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A/N So this is a story I wrote years ago and it's always been one that stuck with me. Since watching Hetalia I realised how perfectly it fitted with Russia (I coincidentally set the original in Russia as well).

This isn't going to be that long, I'd say another two or three chapters which should be out asap cause I am basically rewriting this and just making it what I wanted to write the first time around.

Also let me know what you think ^^ Reviews make my day


	3. Chapter 3

This took far too long -.- Good news though only one chapter left cause this is a very short story.

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Time passed and soon the village was left barren of its children. The once happy village was left shroud in depression that seemed to grow with every passing day. Being the only child left Ivan was guarded like gold, he was never allowed time to himself. As much as he liked the attention he wished the other children would come back and he wanted to go back to the forest. He wanted to visit the flower patch and pick more beautiful flowers to cheer everyone up. He wanted to find a sunflower to brighten his house. Since the beast returned he hasn't been able to visit it and his house was left without flowers, something that hurt him more than the loss of the other children. Even though he considered the other children his friends the flowers were always cheering him up. They just looked beautiful and waited for him to pick him so he could smile. They didn't call him names. Since more children started disappearing more also started harassing Ivan, they blamed him for the others going missing. Some convinced their parents that it was his fault and for a week it appeared that he was going to be exiled. That was until the elders stepped in and made everyone see sense. Ivan was a child; there was no way he could have influenced who was taken. There was no way he could have control over the beast. That was until that one fateful day he finally escaped the adults and made his way back into the forest.

One morning at dawn Ivan awoke to the sounds of birds singing outside his window. Excited he scrambled to the window and pulled back his curtains. Outside he saw three blue birds playing on a shovel his father had left in the garden. Quietly he snuck out past his father who lay sleeping in a makeshift bed beside him. Once outside he raced towards the birds who fled when they saw him coming. Giggling to himself he gave chase after them until eventually they came to the edge of the forest. As if egging him on they paused and flew above his head causing him to giggle more but then they disappeared into the trees. By now Ivan was too caught up in his excitement to heed any previous warnings he had gotten about the forest. For the first time in a long time he was happy and he had gotten to play. So without a second of hesitation he followed them into the trees and soon found the old path he always used to visit his favourite clearing were the flowers grew.

Deeper and deeper he ventured into the trees until all signs of the village had disappeared behind him. Soon he came across the clearing, gasping in delight he threw himself into a large bunch of daisies that grew not far from the path. Rolling around in joy he gazed up at the sky. It was in this one area that the sky was visible and for as long as Ivan could remember he never saw a cloud ruin the perfect blue that hung above him now. There were days when he wished he could have stayed out all night to watch the stars but that was impossible. His father always came for him if he stayed out too long. Pushing himself up from the ground he gazed around. The clearing was carpeted with more flowers than Ivan could name, however he did notice something different. The sunflowers he loved were gone. Sighing he stood up and went to look around the outskirts of the clearing. He knew it was unlikely considering that they normally grew in the very centre of the clearing but he had to try. When he gave a sunflower to anyone he would light up at the joy in the others expression. So now he wanted to find a whole bunch of them to cheer everyone up. Lost in his thoughts he didn't notice a dark figure following him. That was until he wandered too close to a tree covered in mistletoe.

Seeing the boy come closer the figure backed further into the shrubbery it was hidden in. However a twig snapped when it stepped back causing the boy to move closer. Cowering against the tree the figure waited until the branches shielding were whipped back. The boy gasped in shock and fell back to the ground, whimpering in pain as he collided with the clearing floor. Sitting up he rubbed his elbow and stared wide eyed at the figure. Expecting the boy to attack or flea the figure awaited his fate, instead however the boy smiled.

"Do you like this place as well?" he asked. The innocence of his question and the complete lack of fear shocked the figure. It could only press its pointed ears closer to its head and lower its eyes at the question. Unable to talk back to the boy, it could only hope that body language was enough.

"Yay I'm glad someone likes this place too," the boy cheered and jumped to his feet and once again moved closer to the figure. "it's really pretty here and I wish I could come here more but... the adults are scared of this place." His voice trailed off as he thought of what his father would do if he discovered Ivan had wandered off. There was a chance Ivan would never be allowed to leave his side again, and worse than that he was afraid of what his father would do. He hated his father's temper.

The figure looked around the clearing and nodded slowly. It still remained hidden in the shadows, afraid of how the boy would react if it were to leave.

"Hey want to come out of there and help me pick some flowers?" Ivan asked in a desperate attempt to push past his doubts.

The figure shook his head and retreated further into the shadows.

"Please... I just want someone to play with. I'm tired of being lonely I just want a friend."

The figure froze, it didn't know how to react. If it came out of the shadows the boy would run away or hurt it, but if it stayed in the shadows the boy would get even sadder and for some reason the figure didn't like seeing the only friendly face it had seen in almost a century cry. A few minutes passed until eventually the figure stood up and slowly made its way into the light. Patiently it waited on a scream or something to indicate the boy was afraid, instead it was met with silence. It looked at the boy who smiled back at.

"Yay does this mean we're friends now? My name's Ivan and I live in the village not far from here!" Ivan almost yelled in glee.

The figure continued to stare at the strange boy completely perplexed by his reaction. It had gotten used to humans fleeing in terror, not this. This both overwhelmed and excited it.

"You're pretty strange though... are you a wolf," Ivan inquired and finally took the figures form into consideration. It looked like a bulkier version of a large dog, it's fur was pitch black aside from streaks of amber and green running down it's back. It's eyes were a bright red the seemed to glow now it was in the light and below that set its mouth. Monstrous yellowing teeth showed between black lips in an unnerving smile. The figure shook his head at the question. "Ok so not a wolf... you're a lot bigger than any wolf I've ever seen before. Are you a dog then? I heard about huge dogs from an island country far away from here." Once again the figure shook his head. "Hmm then can you give me a clue?"

Glancing around the figure caught sight of a path of dirt to their left. Walking over it stared at it trying to figure out how to communicate wheat it needed to say. Trudging through all his memories of how humans communicated he came across one memory. Slowly he raised a huge paw and started tracing out a word in the dirt. Ivan watched in awe as the word was spelt out.

"Monster," he said once the figure had finally finished. "You're not a monster."

The figure stared at him for a moment before prodding his paw back towards the word.

"No you're not. A monster would have eaten me by now. You might look scary but I'm still alive so you're not a monster," Ivan replied with a small giggle.

The boys innocence and naivety baffled the figure. It was true he hadn't killed the boy but it's not like he hadn't killed before... the figure forced those memories from its head and brought his focus back to Ivan. Startled the figure froze at realising Ivan had now closed the gap between them and was now petting the fur on his back. Unable to move the figure remained in that spot until Ivan started scratching. Before it knew what was happening the figure rolled onto its back and stretched out begging for Ivan to scratch its tummy. Giggling Ivan happily obliged.

"See you're not a monster, but you need a real name... how about Kolya? I like it, from now on you're Kolya and we're going to be friends!"

Gasping for breath the newly dubbed Kolya struggled to its feet and moved away from Ivan who had by now divulged into a fit of laughter.

"Want to help me pick flowers? I want to make everyone back at the village happy again?" Ivan proposed after gaining his composure again and looking lopsidedly at Kolya. Unable to refuse Kolya pushed past Ivan and started rummaging through the flowers until it found a small blue one with more petals than either could count. Looking over it attempted to smile at Ivan instead created an awkward grimace. Ivan laughed at the face but none the less ran over to pick the flower. Grinning in victory as he did so. They spent the next hour or so finding and picking the most beautiful flowers in the clearing until Kolya nudged his head against Ivan and forced him to look at the sky. The sun was visible meaning it was noon and time Ivan had to leave. Sighing the boy gathered the flowers they have picked and started on his way back to the village. Kolya following closely behind. Once near the outskirts of the forest Kolya stopped.

"Why are you stopping?" Ivan asked and raised a brow at his new friend. Kolya only shook its head and lowered it to the ground. "You don't like the village?" Once again Kolya shook his head. Seemingly understanding Ivan nodded and smiled. "It's ok I'll come back tomorrow and we can play then!" Kolya looked up and saw the eager look in Ivan's eye and nodded slowly. To say it wasn't excited by the prospect of having someone to share its time with was an understatement. "Ok I have to go now but I'll be back at the same time tomorrow!" Ivan called and raced off further down the path. Kolya could only watch the boy's small retreating back until it too decided to make its way back to its home.

Unlike Ivan's village which had plenty of people to spend time with Kolya dwelled in a small cave by itself. The only time Kolya normally met others was when it hunted or worse still it was commanded to go into the village. Trudging past the small stones that littered the entrance Kolya made itself comfortable near the back of the cave and settled down for a nap. Try as it might it couldn't ignore its surroundings. Small scraps of fabric strewed the cave floor and bits of jewellery glittered in the low light. It tried to imagine that it really was small stones littering the entrance to the cave but it wasn't. They were small bones of what Kolya knew were children Ivan had considered friends. Ivan would never believe the new friend he had made was a monster. In fact the worst monster Kolya had ever known throughout its long hard life. Kolya was the beast the plagued the village and the forest. Kolya was the reason Ivan was lonely.

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Reviews? Opinions on what's going to happen? Opinions on Chibi Russia's character? Any feedback is amazing ^^

Also if anyone gets annoyed by referring to Kolya as an 'it' there is a reason that will be shown in the next chapter and as for the name I just took the kolkolkol Russia always says and found a russian name with that XD Woohoo google!


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